On Monday, July 20, 2026, the ceremony awarding an honorary doctorate to Lydia Kavraki was held at the “Nikos Petridis” Auditorium of the Voutes Campus of the University of Crete in Heraklion.

Lydia Kavraki is the Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computer Science at Rice University, where she also holds professorships in Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Bioengineering. She is also the Director of the Ken Kennedy Institute at Rice University in Houston, Texas (USA).

The honorary doctorate was conferred by the Department of Computer Science (CSD) of the University of Crete.

Through this distinguished academic honor, the University of Crete recognized Lydia Kavraki’s outstanding international scientific career and her pioneering contributions to the fields of Computer Science, Robotics, Computational Biology, and Artificial Intelligence. At the same time, the University honored her significant contribution to advancing scientific research, innovation, and international academic collaboration.

The ceremony concluded with the honoree’s address and lecture, entitled: “The Computational Foundations of Modern Robotics.”